Owners of slain dog pursue charges against neighbor

Raffaele Forte, the owner of Keeno, a three-year-old Dalmatian mix that was killed by a neighbor on Hutchings Road in the Town of Ogden last Saturday, has hired an attorney and is looking to pursue both criminal and civil charges against Keeno’s killer. The Law Offices of Matthew Albert, Esq. has been retained to represent the family and their interests moving forward and to ensure justice is served on Keeno’s behalf. Mr. Albert, an attorney who specializes in animal and civil rights, is in the process of conducting an investigation into the matter. He has already come to the undeniable conclusion that Keeno was killed unjustifiably and in violation of Agricultural and Markets Law §353-a.

Keeno pushed his way through a screen door and approached Sally Pietrantoni and her husband as they were walking past the Forte’s residence. Lorena Lammes, Forte’s girlfriend, immediately saw Keeno going towards the couple and their dogs, and ran after them in a playful manner. According to a sworn affidavit signed by Ms. Lammes, Keeno did not bark, growl, and was of absolutely no threat to his eventual killer and his family. There is no claim that anyone was bit or injured in the incident aside from Keeno being shot and killed, and Sally Pietrantoni, who was shot by her husband in the incident.

Despite reports to the contrary, Keeno was a friendly dog and acted as a service dog to his owner, who has Parkinson’s disease. Keeno even was trained to pull his owner of out bed by way of a rope toy… he was everything to his family.

Ms. Lammes’ affidavit goes into great detail and specificity as to the tragic and unnecessary sequence of events on Saturday. Upon Keeno approaching the Pietrantonis, Ms. Lammes was reaching out to grab Keeno when Mr. Pietrantoni (first name unknown) had the dog by the collar, twisted his neck, and fired a shot at Keeno. The first shot missed, hitting his wife instead. At this juncture, Mr. Pietrantoni then snapped the dog’s neck in the other direction and fired at least one other shot which ultimately killed the family friendly dog. Subsequent to the shooting, while Ms. Lammes was watching her dog breath his last breath, she turned around to see Mr. Pietrantoni smiling in her direction, as opposed to tending to his injured wife that he had just shot.

Keeno had been involved in a minor incident back in January where he had also approached the Pietrantoni’s while they were walking. While no one was injured in that incident, the Pietrantoni’s had been circling Keeno’s house and lawn since that time, seemingly waiting for an opportunity to attack and kill Keeno. Such is evidenced by the fact that Mr. Pietrantoni was walking the dog with a loaded firearm upon his person. Mr. Albert states that he is going to fully cooperate with the local Police Department so that the right conclusion is made, and will achieve justice on behalf of Keeno in any means possible as allowed by law.